False Foxglove

Erect, annual, 30in tall forb, dark green, blackish when dry, many erect branches; stems smooth. Individual flowers and their buds are produced from the axils of the leaves on the upper and outer stems; these flowering stems can be regarded as leafy racemes. The swollen flower buds are conspicuously white. Each flower is about ½–¾” across, consisting of a short tubular corolla with 5 petal-like lobes and a tubular calyx with 5 short teeth. The corolla is purplish pink, its 5 rounded lobes are quite large in relation to its tubular base. The lobes are finely ciliate along their margins. The lower interior of the corolla has dark purple spots. Near the upper interior of the corolla, there are 4 stamens with hairy white anthers and an undivided white style . The slender pedicels of the flowers are green to reddish purple. The blooming period occurs during the early fall. Each flower has lasts only a day or two before its corolla falls to the ground. There is no noticeable floral scent. Each flower is replaced by a globoid seed capsule containing many small seeds that can be blown about by the wind. The root system is fibrous. Slender False Foxglove is partially parasitic on other plants.